How Drew Barrymore Found Her North Star

BRINGING UP BABY

Barrymore wasn't on bed rest leading up to her daughter's birth, but she confesses to barely ever leaving her house when pregnant. "I didn't go out for like six or seven months. It was really nice to just get quiet," she says of the nesting mode.

"I cleaned out every single drawer in my house," she says. "I went through storage units. That's how I lived my days. They say cats run around shredding paper before they're about to give birth. That's exactly how I was."

As she gained weight, satisfying her cravings and feasting on tamales and Key lime cheesecake from Magnolia Bakery, so did her husband  so much so that she recently bought him a 10-pack of classes at the spin studio SoulCycle to work off some of the sympathy weight.

Barrymore confides that she refuses to stress about her own post-baby shape. "I'm still working on it, but I'm not worrying about it. We live in a society where everyone's like, 'Look at how amazing she looks two weeks out [from giving birth],' " she observes. "I don't want to be on that hamster wheel; that's hell. I'm never going to have the kind of body that makes me excited about bikini season," she says. "I've never had a 'beach body.' But I want to feel like I'm showing up and doing my best. My goal is to be nice to myself, gentle toward myself, during this process. It's such a sacred time."

Even without the overlay of a recent pregnancy, Barrymore isn't one to fret over a few extra pounds: "I think that being happy makes the biggest impact on your physical appearance. Of course I want to look good in clothes. And it never makes me feel good when somebody who has an insane figure tells me, 'I eat whatever I want.' I'm like, 'Thank you so much for making me feel like crap.' I know if I eat whatever I want, I will not look amazing. So it's all about balance for me. But I don't want perfection; I don't actually believe in it. What I've learned along the way is, work with what you have; embrace what you've been given. Don't fight against it."

This easy-does-it ethos permeates every aspect of her life as a new mom. "I've been telling myself to be calm. Calm in crisis, calm in the morning  calm, calm, calm. I've approached so many things in my life with such intensity that I want to approach motherhood with dedication and focus," she explains.

Right now, there is no place she would rather be than at home, in sweatpants, with Kopelman and Olive. (She laughs and admits that on some days, only one of the legs in those sweatpants might be shaved; if Olive starts crying in the middle of Barrymore's shower, she bolts  grooming can wait.)

"My favorite thing about being a mom is just what a better person it makes you on a daily basis," she admits. "Every morning when I wake her up, the endgame is, Can I get her to smile? And that puts me in a good mood. It's definitely a different way to live  and a much better one."

Family is such a focus for Barrymore now because hers was so fractured and troubled during her childhood. She was born into the acting profession, the granddaughter of the legendary John Barrymore. At 11 months old, she was already appearing in commercials. She was 7 years old when audiences fell in love with her as the little girl in E.T.

Her mother, Jaid, who split from Barrymore's father when Barrymore was young, famously took her daughter along on the New York City party circuit, to Studio 54 and elsewhere. At 13, an angelic-looking Barrymore was already in rehab with substance-use issues. At 15, she legally emancipated herself from her parents. At 19, she was posing for Playboy magazine.

It took until 2004, when Barrymore's father was on his deathbed, for a reconciliation to take place.

"My friendships," she says, "are like my original family." Juvonen, her business partner and best friend, "is the hero of my life and the family I didn't have," she says  the person who taught her that happiness is a choice anyone can make.

"I'd never seen someone wave that flag in such an obvious way," Barrymore says gratefully. She likensJuvonen to her husband, Kopelman, because "they're both from really strong families, and they have a great stable foundation under them."

She expects to raise her family in the same kind of way. "Oh, my God," Barrymore says, "I will literally fight like a lion to keep my family happy and intact. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I'd had a great family growing up. This is my time for that, and I will never take it for granted."

FLOWER POWER

In January, Barrymore gave birth to another kind of baby, her own makeup business: Flower cosmetics. Even with her intense focus on the film industry, she has always pursued other ventures. A naturally creative spirit, she can't resist dabbling  and then some  in new interests. Last spring, despite her focus on wedding preparations, she brought to market a pinot grigio under the label "Barrymore." The company motto: "From our family to yours."

The Flower collection will be sold exclusively at Walmart. The line embodies her dream of offering superior quality at a cost anyone can afford. "That's my goal," she says. "Women deserve something beautiful and unattainable they wouldn't get otherwise."

An actress her whole life, Barrymore has had ample opportunity to try a huge range of beauty products. CoverGirl was so impressed with her know-how that it made her a co-creative director during her five-year-long stint as a spokeswoman for the brand. She's always felt that makeup can ease a lot of superficial troubles.

"Throwing a little bit of paint on my face, that's going to make me a feel a lot better," she admits.

Developing Flower "was kind of like being pregnant," Barrymore explains. Creating makeup, she adds, "is very nurturing and romantic; it's about coming up with formulas that you think are beautiful. You think a lot about what a woman might want."

Working on shades and lipsticks also made her think about her legacy and building a business for her children (yes, she wants more of them). "I would really like to do things in life that make my kids proud. With something like this, they could work on the business in the future. Maybe my daughter would want to run the company one day when she's older," Barrymore muses.

More than that, she hopes the message of her brand will resonate with women everywhere. "It's about loving the way you look, and it's coming from a person who believes happiness is really the best makeup in the world. That's something you cannot paint on. There's nothing you can put on your face that comes in a tube that's going to be as amazing as a smile. Wait, I take it back!" she says with a laugh. "You can find happiness in a tube, and it's called concealer!"

One thing the line likely won't have is an emphasis on high-tech anti-aging products. Here's why: When it comes to getting older  Barrymore will be 38 this month  she has taught herself to "embrace it. Do not fight it. Because guess what? You will not win that battle."

Embracing the ups and downs of life and staying calm seems to be Barrymore's newfound happiness formula. Looking back on the difficult times she often experienced before Olive, before Kopelman, before Flower Films, Barrymore says if she could meet her younger self, she would tell her that every day she'd come across things that would feel like the end of the world. " 'And all of that stress and anxiety and worry  you will later know that you don't need that.' But frankly, if I'd heard that, I don't know if I would have listened."

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